


Day 1: Fever

by GemmaRose



Series: VLD Whump Week [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura (Voltron)-centric, Coran is the only Adult adult on this ship someone help him, Fever, Gen, Overworking, Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), Stress, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 23:16:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: With Shiro missing and her Paladins scrambling to find him, Allura can't possibly justify taking a break.





	Day 1: Fever

Allura groaned and rubbed at her temples, leaning against the wall. There was so much to do, so much to plan and keep track of, and with Shiro... gone, she had nobody to lean on. Oh, sure, Coran offered his help, but he didn’t know the Paladins the way Shiro did, and his grasp of tactics wasn’t particularly strong. He gave excellent advice when it came to maintaining the castle or making contact with a species she didn’t know, but in planning their next moves... well, there was a reason Shiro had been the Black Paladin. She sighed, and lowered her hands to rest against the wall. Keith was still out searching, but one by one over the past few vargas the others had returned to rest. Even Coran had gone to sleep, after Keith gave a terse status report stating he didn’t plan on returning until tomorrow at the very least. Allura sighed, and looked at the control columns in the middle of the room. She couldn’t rest yet, not when there was still so much to do.

\---

“Are you alright, Princess?” Hunk asked the next morning at breakfast.

“I’m fine, Hunk.” Allura smiled as reassuringly as she could manage. She’d managed some fitful sleep when her eyes grew too heavy to read the screens, but she still felt exhausted and had drawn her hair up in a messy bun rather than take the time to brush it out. “A few rounds with the gladiator after breakfast should wake me up.”

“Princess, you should get some more rest.” Coran said softly. “How much sleep did you get last night?”

“Enough.” Allura said dismissively.

“ _Princess_ -”

“I won’t be sent to bed like a misbehaving child.” she said sharply. “Not when one of my Paladins is unaccounted for.”

“Understood, Princess.” Coran bowed his head in acknowledgement, brow furrowed slightly.

The meal concluded in silence, and Hunk thanked Coran for volunteering to do the dishes so all three Paladins could leave as soon as their armour was on. Allura changed into her own flight suit, and headed down to the training deck. The melee training room lit up when she opened the door, and she strode over to the wall. Two panels opened at a touch, giving her a staff and a control screen on an elastic wristband, and she set the room to give her a middle difficulty gladiator. Not too much of a challenge, but not so easy she could defeat it in her sleep; just enough to get her blood flowing and her brain working at full power.

\---

Allura leaned on the control columns, breathing harder than normal. “Princess?” Keith’s voice came over the comms, and Allura shook her head to clear it.

“I’m here, Keith.” she said, brushing a few stray hairs back from where they clung to her forehead. “Have you found anything?”

“No.” he answered, sounding so dejected it made something curdle in her stomach, a fear she refused to so much as think about.

“I won’t order you to return, but Keith...” she hesitated, hands tightening on the domed tops of the columns. “It’s been nearly a movement. If Shiro is still there-”

“Then tell me where to look.” Keith snapped. “Until we have a better lead, I’m going to keep checking this area. More likely than not, he’s still nearby. Ending transmission.”

The signal cut off, and Allura slumped heavily against the castle’s controls for a few ticks before pushing herself back to her feet. She shivered, heat and chill rushing across her skin in patternless waves, and made a mental note to ask Coran if he’d actually checked the castle’s climate control system since the installation of the new crystal. Her head pulsed with pain, and she lifted a hand to press to her temple. Dammit, she couldn’t afford to be weak right now. No matter how her body ached, she had to support her Paladins in their efforts to find their missing leader.

\---

“We’re under attack!” Pidge yelled, and Allura staggered against the wall as pain shot up her leg.

“Princess, we need support!” Hunk shouted, and she nearly stumbled through the door of the bridge. Thankfully she regained some of her composure as she rushed over to the control columns, but she still had to push her hair out of her face before gripping the controls.

“We’re on our way.” she assured them, locking her elbows as she leaned on the controls and poured energy into generating a wormhole large enough for the whole castle. Distantly, she was aware of Coran bringing up shields and readying weapons, but most of her attention was focused on staying upright as she moved the castle forwards. She swayed as they entered the wormhole, and tightened her grip on the domes. The Paladins were all shouting at each other, and it combined in her head to form a throbbing pain which encircled her entire skull. Allura gritted her teeth, and pushed the castle faster.

They emerged into a firefight, and Allura bit down on a wordless sound of pain as the flash of lasers seared itself into the throbbing in her head. She could endure, she had to endure, her Paladins were in trouble and without her there was no guarantee the castle had enough energy to maintain its shields _and_ provide support.

“Paladins, calm down!” she shouted, pulling herself upright despite how her legs wanted to simply collapse. “Status report!”

All four kept yelling, and the castle shook violently. “Princess, three galra ships have locked onto us!” Coran cried, indicating the trio of hulking purple vessels the Lions were trying to bring down.

“Direct shield power to the front of the ship.” Allura commanded, stepping between the control columns and lifting her hands to gesture the weapons screens into existence. “I’ll bring up the-”

\---

“Princess!” Coran shouted, turning from the shields screen at his fingertips when Allura trailed off mid-sentence. His heart leapt up into his throat at the sight of his charge sprawled on the floor, and he left his station to rush to her side. “Allura!” he gathered her up in his arms, and pressed a hand to her sweat-beaded forehead. She was burning up, and when her eyes fluttered open he held her by the shoulders.

“weapons.” she said weakly, and Coran tightened his grip momentarily.

“I’ll handle them, Princess.” the castle shook, and Allura squirmed free of his hold.

“You handle the shields.” she said, and Coran set his jaw.

“I’ll handle both.” he told her, standing and pulling her hand from the control column she’d been trying to pull herself up by. “You stay put.”

“I’m not a child, Coran!” Allura snapped, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

“We’ll discuss this later.” he said, releasing her wrist and gesturing his screens over to her station. The weapons ones came up with a few gestures, and he aimed them at the fighters. “Paladins, focus your fire!” he said loudly, raising his voice to drown them all out. “You’re soldiers, so act like it!”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Lance exclaimed, and Coran hit a button that created a piercing feedback sound for half a tick.

“Keith, Lance, Pidge, focus fire on the middle ship, I’ll keep the fighters off your back.” he ordered, directing 90% of the castle’s non-essential power to the forward shields. “Hunk, see what you can do about those ion cannons. I’ve boosted the shields, but I don’t like our chances if they manage to fire those off at us.”

“Coran, I can-”

“You, hush.” he told Allura with a stern look.

“Was that Allura?” Pidge asked, and Coran picked out the Green Lion firing the vine cannon at the battleship’s bridge. The plants froze almost immediately, but Pidge probably had a plan.

“Yes, she’s-” Allura made to stand, but sat down at another stern look. “She’s not feeling well.” he said as the middle battleship exploded.

“Incoming ion cannon!” Keith yelled.

“Got it!” Hunk replied, and the castle shook violently as a blast of purple-edged white hot energy clipped their shields.

“Their ships just keep getting stronger every time we fight them.” Lance grunted. “Coran, I’ve got an idea, but you’ll need to get these fighters off me.”

“On it.”

“Keith, you an’ me can take down the other battleship.” Hunk said quickly.

“Lance, what are you doing?” Keith snapped as the Blue Lion plowed into the hull of one of the remaining battleships.

“Taking a page from the Skywalker playbook.” Lance laughed, and seconds later yelped as the battleship exploded and his Lion went tumbling through space. “I’m okay!” he said quickly when the Blue Lion righted itself.

“How did you even do that?” Pidge laughed, the Green Lion swooping through a swarm of fresh fighters and blasting them apart with its laser. “The engine room’s nowhere near the launch bays on those ships.”

“Yeah, but the inside walls aren’t rated for anything more than a hand blaster.” Lance replied happily, the Blue Lion swooping over to meet the Green and assist in destroying the fighters.

“Got it!” Keith whooped, and the front of the remaining ship violently depressurised. The Red Lion started racing down the side of the vessel, flamethrower focused on the hull, and the Yellow Lion followed behind with its laser focused on the glowing metal. The ship was soon listing badly, and Coran relaxed slightly as the Paladins cheered.

“You lot can handle the last of the fighters on your own.” he said, not asking but simply reminding them that their job wasn’t done just because the castle was no longer being threatened. He got four affirmative responses as he returned the castle’s power distribution to its standard settings, and then knelt to check on Allura. She was conscious, but only barely, her eyes unfocused and sluggish in tracking his hand when he waved it in front of her face.

“Oh, Allura.” he sighed, sliding his arms under her knees and shoulders. “I knew I should’ve insisted you take more breaks.” he stood, and her head lolled on his shoulder. “You, young lady, need to go in a cryo-pod.” he huffed as he started towards the doors.

\---

Allura stumbled forwards into familiar arms, and relaxed into the embrace for a second before adrenaline shot down her spine and she straightened up. “The battle.”

“Already won, Princess.” Coran assured her, moving his hands to rest on her biceps. “The Paladins are all on the training deck, safe and sound.”

“All?” Allura began to smile, but it withered as Coran’s face fell.

“Sorry, Princess. Poor choice of words on my part.”

“It’s alright.” she waved the apology away. “I shouldn’t have read into it.”

“Speaking of things you shouldn’t have done.” Coran released her and stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why did you hide your fever from me?”

“Fever?” Allura frowned. “I am perfectly healthy, Coran.”

“That’s not what the pod said when I put you in.” Coran was scowling at her, and Allura felt small in the face of his disapproval.

“Would you believe me if I said I thought it was nothing?” she offered.

Coran scrutinised her for a few seconds more, then sighed heavily. “Yes, I would. You’ve been so single-mindedly focused this past movement, I’m not even surprised you worked yourself to illness.”

Allura looked down, shame welling up in her. “We need to find Shiro.” she said softly.

“You need to _rest_.” Coran insisted. “Allura, you can do incredible things, but you are only altean. I let you push yourself because I thought you would remember that and not do something foolish.”

“I’m sorry, Coran.” Allura said, hands curling against her flight suit. “I just-”

“You want to help, I know.” Coran soothed, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “But please, don’t push yourself so hard. Wherever Shiro is, a few more vargas or quintants won’t hurt him.”

Fearful what-ifs coiled cold in Allura’s gut, and Coran tilted her chin up with the hand which had brushed her hair back into place. “Allura, please.” he said, his voice soft and gentle. “Trust me.”

She swallowed the words crowding on her tongue, and nodded silently. Coran smiled, and pulled her into a tight hug.

“You must’ve knocked a dozen deca-phoebs off my life when you collapsed at the command columns.” he murmured into her hair. “Just like your father.”

Allura smiled against Coran’s shoulder, and hugged him back just as tight before pulling away. “I’ll try not to give you any more grey hairs.” she said, the closest she could come to a promise without her word being binding.

Coran squawked indignantly, and lifted a hand to his moustache. “ _More_?”

Allura giggled, and let Coran mock-scold her about how he was nowhere near old enough to be going grey as they left the room.


End file.
